


Home.

by the-canary (siruru)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Co-workers, Developing Relationship, F/M, Feelings Realization, Friendship, Mutant Reader, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Post-Black Panther (2018), Pre-Relationship, Reader-Insert, Secret Crush, Slow Burn, Strangers to Friends, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-09-01 12:32:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16765225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siruru/pseuds/the-canary
Summary: Home isn’t a place, but rather the people that have your heart.





	Home.

**Author's Note:**

> This is for @bucky-at-bedtime‘s writing challenge. this isn’t the best, but i thought it was cute and worked with the prompt. i’m sorry i couldn’t add some characters, but i’m still not very used to writing them, but i hope you enjoy it. 
> 
> Prompt: ‘Hygge’ – the cozy feeling you get when you’re enjoying good things in life with friends.
> 
> Feedback is always welcomed.

_ It’s a little strange when Director Hill gives you the directive -- you will be joining the Avengers on a temporary basis. You blink in confusion, but nod as a strange feeling of pride and anticipation bubbles in your chest at the announcement.  _

_ “May I ask why though,” you ask softly but with all the confidence in the world that you could muster around someone like Director Hill.  _

_ “Captain Rogers and Ms. Romanoff are looking for someone with your talents,” Maria smiles. _

_ She tells you to get ready to head to the Avengers Towers. As you leave the office and head back to your apartment, the anxiety starts to settle in -- what are the world’s mightiest heroes going to think of you? _

* * *

It’s the first week in and you still aren’t used to it -- living in a well stocked and airconditioned room compared to the little apartment with a broken heater back in Queens. Yes, S.H.I.E.L.D paid well, but not enough to get you something good in New York City. You’re adjusting well enough, but it still feels strange not to have to extra blankets with you and you slowly develop a pattern of getting up, doing some training in the gym on your floor before heading to get breakfast. 

It’s when you are heading down that you finally notice somebody coming back from their own run. You freeze for a moment, still unsure of yourself, as you do your best to give him a polite smile and nod. 

“Good morning, Captain Rogers,” you states with a bit of a squeak, as he stops in the middle of the lobby.

“Where are you heading to?” Steve asks, not in that Captain American voice that you that heard in the few missions you had been in, but with general curiosity. You rub the back of your neck, like a kid caught sneaking out in the middle of the night rather than just leaving to get breakfast at 6am. 

“Gonna see if I can find some breakfast,” you shrug while putting your hands in your hoodie pockets, “Though I still don’t know the area too well.” 

“I know a place with some great coffee,” he starts off as your eyes lighten up at the mention, “Mean set of pancakes too.” 

“That actually sounds really good,” you admit, feeling hungrier than before as the blond tells you to wait there, so he can change and he’ll show you the way. 

Thus, you created a small routine of going to get breakfast with Captain Rogers, or Steve as he pushed you to calling him after the first couple of mornings together.

* * *

**Natasha.**

You don’t go on missions often as most of the other Avengers unless the information calls for it. Your powers aren’t so much for fighting, as there are for scanning and collecting data, which is why you are paired up with the Black Widow for most of those first missions you are needed for. 

It’s quite most of the time between the two of you as she controls the plane or car into whatever Eastern Europe country you are going through for in order to collect more details on HYDRA . She’s naturally observing you, as you look at all the terrain around you, silent because your own powers take speech away from you. Your eyes flash and glow before you let out a cough. 

“You okay?” is all she ever asks you, as you nod.

“HYDRA agents, 5 kilometers away,” you states before rubbing your sore throat,”Two squads of 4 with weapons.” 

“You confident about  _ that thing,” _ Natasha states as she picks up the speed of the vehicle just a bit, gripping the wheel a bit harder than before. You feel a rush of dread and confidence bloom in your chest all at once, as you nod. 

“I will be, if you promise more of those Russian Tea cookies,” you laugh, trying to make the best out of the situation as the car starts to skee into dry ice and you grab on just a bit tighter to the side door. You prepare yourself with a deep breathe. 

“I promise you all the tea cookies in the world if we get out of this,” Nat says with a grin, as you blink once then twice before everything goes black. 

You end up coming back with all the information that you needed and then some, along with a now defunct HYDRA base, and after your morning run the next day -- you are happy to see the largest box of those powdered tea cookies that you have ever seen placed in the kitchen countertop with your name on it. 

It makes you think that you finding you own niche within the Avengers now.

* * *

_ “Is she doing all right?” _

_ “Yes, just like when you asked last time.”  _

_ “It’s just with her being new and all. I’m--” _

_ “I know, know.” _

* * *

**Tony & Bruce.**

You wonder how the two scientists notice that your eyes have a sensitivity to light. You try not to wear sunglasses at all and contacts only sometimes, you don’t want to seem a liability to the group. It was a thing that ran back into your S.H.I.E.L.D training days and both men seemed to understand that, but there were also things that weren’t still understood about your powers and after talking to them for awhile, they finally got you to sit down in one of their labs to get your eyes scanned. 

\--Only for the scanner to break when your powers activated. 

“Shit,” you yelp as the machine combusts and falls to the ground below. Bruce just shakes his head as Tony lets out a laugh, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to.” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Bruce gives you a reassuring smile.

“We’ve seen worse happen in this lab,” Tony adds in, as he flicks some screens away and over to the doctor, “But, does that happen often?” 

“Me losing control or setting others machinery on fire?” you question apprehensively because the answer was yes -- you couldn’t really scan machinery before it exploded. Sometimes, machinery being activated near you automatically triggered your powers, though you had trained over the years to have better control over it. 

“Both, knowing both is good,” Tony laughs, as you catch his reference before explaining what you know about your powers during your time in S.H.I.E.L.D, your discomfort dissolving in between as they decide to use the old way of checking out eyes and do different tests to see how far you can scan and detect things, as well as through what materials and methods.

It’s a tiring experience, but it is much better one that any S.H.I.E.L.D test you had done before.

* * *

_ “ _ _ Those glasses you made seem to be working perfectly for her.”  _

_ “Of course they would, ye of little faith. Though it makes me wonder.”  _

_ “What exactly are you ‘wondering’ about, Tony?”  _

_ “Just how much attention are you putting in our newest recruit.” _

* * *

**Wanda & Vision. **

Wanda is the on the closest to your age and while you are both apprehensive about your powers -- the two of you just bloom around each other. She understood, more than you could ever know, what it was like to have powers that you couldn’t control all the time and in-between trainings you talked about your hobbies, likes, and little things you missed from back home. Sometimes, you even got to taste some of her cooking, though you learned that Vision didn’t quite understand the quantity of salt in a recipe before it was beyond human consumption. 

Then, they ask you to teach them a new recipe and you freeze for a second, trying to figure out what would be the best food to show them from your childhood — what happy memories and feelings would you allow yourself to unravel from things you didn’t really remember anymore.

It never really daunted on you that you weren’t even trying hide your past, if they didn’t already know, and surely Director Hill would frown at how bad of a S.H.I.E.L.D agent you were being.

“So, what do you think?” you ask leaning on the kitchen counter top, a large pot next to you as Wanda digs in, “My nana used to make this for special occasions all the time, though I don’t think I can ever make it as good as hers.”

“This is delicious,” Wanda states with a soft smile, as Vision keeps looking at the colorful garnishes that decorate the top of the dish. 

She keeps eating, as she proceeds to ask more about your family recipes and you tell her everything you that can remember -- an easygoing smile and a completely open book, for the first time in a long time.

* * *

_ “This is delicious. Who made it?” _

_ “You already ate three bowls! Oh, she made it, an old family recipe.” _

_ “It’s good, really good.”  _

_ ‘They always said the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach.” _

* * *

**Sam (and Bucky).**

“Wait! He dived out of the Triskelion without a parachute?” 

You don’t know how you ended up here, but on the way to the recreation room --you were planning on catching up on a new series-- you had meet up with Sam and the mysterious Bucky Barnes. The man was visiting from Wakanda in order to do some testing with the researchers part of R&D for Stark Industries. While, you talked and connected well with Sam, you weren’t sure how you were going to get along with Steve’s best friend -- you didn’t want to make a bad first impression. 

Though, you didn’t really have anything to worry about, as you ended up having lunch with the two men while trading stories of a certain super soldier and his crazy antics. Things calmed down for a moment, as both of them looked at you and went in for the kill.

“So, what do you think of old Stevie?” Bucky can’t help but ask, bright eyes and large smile as you pause for a moment. Sam shakes his head. 

“Steve is a good man, I am grateful to have him as a friend,” you state with a soft smile and loving eyes, that has them speechless for a moment on how sweet you could be talking about the blonde, though Sam doubted you understood, but the potential was there. 

“What other stories do you guys have?” 

“Oh, you haven’t heard the best yet. We’ve got stories for days,” Bucky states before taking a bite of his lunch, as Sam moves to another story of when they were on a mission in Greece. 

You let out a hearty laugh, as Sam and Bucky look at each other with knowing smile. A certain man watching from the doorway. Your eyes sparkle, as you look at them, though it’s due to the subject more than anything else. 

* * *

_ "What have you and Sam been telling her?”  _

_ “Just some old stories about some crazy punk.”  _

_ “Seriously Buck.”  _

_ “What do you want me ‘ta do if a pretty dame keeps asking about you?” _

* * *

It’s a small party between all the Avengers as the year comes to an end and some of them leave to stay for their families and loved ones. A year ago you wouldn’t have expected to by in this type of position -- to be calling some of the Avengers your closest friends and while your tenure with them might be up soon, you knew the friendships would last beyond that. So, for now you were enjoying watching Sam and Bucky fighting over which were the best Christmas carols in front of the tree. Vision and Wanda were dressed in cute matching sweaters, as Bruce and Tony were caught in some discussion with Peter watching with wide eyes. Nat, Clint, and Rhodey were playing cards, while slowly devouring the gingerbread house amongst themselves. 

It was a--

“A lovely sight, right?” the only person missing from the scene speaks, as Steve comes to your side. A mug of something warm in his hand. 

“Yeah, it really is,” you agree as Steve hums in confirmation and for brief moment you wonder -- what Christmas was for the man in the 40’s? What they could have been if he had never been frozen all those decades ago? 

You were thinking a lot of Steve Rogers recently, especially since talking to Sam and Bucky, even with him right in front of you. 

“Are you going anywhere for the holidays?” 

“Oh no,” you shake your head, blue eyes never leaving your face as you let out an awkward laugh, “I have no real family to speak of. S.H.I.E.L.D is pretty much it for me, probably just stay in the Tower ‘til New Year’s.”

“So, if I wanted to finally give you that tour around New York?” Steve shrugs, trying to sound nonchalant, “What would you say?” 

You blink for a moment, as he gives you a bright smile. 

“I’d love to, Steve.” 

Yes, there would always be danger and life-threatening situations as part of the Avengers, but for now you would enjoy the little blessings with the makeshift family you had been brought into — and the potential what-ifs of the future.


End file.
